Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Tuesday apprehended a Revenue Inspector (RI) in Balangir district while allegedly accepting a bribe to process a land conversion case.
The accused, identified as Alan Behera, RI of Saintala Revenue Circle, was allegedly caught while accepting the bribe for processing the applicant’s file and submitting a field enquiry report to the competent authority for conversion of agricultural land into homestead land.
According to a Vigilance press release, the complainant had submitted an online application on September 7, 2026, in accordance with the guidelines of the state government’s Revenue and Disaster Management Department.
Despite repeated requests, Behera allegedly did not initiate the process and instead demanded a bribe of Rs 6,000 to process the application and facilitate the issuance of a homestead Record of Rights (RoR) in the applicant’s favour.
When the complainant expressed his inability to pay the amount, the accused allegedly reduced the demand. Aggrieved by the demand, the applicant approached the Vigilance authorities.
Acting on the complaint, a team of Vigilance laid a trap and apprehended Behera while allegedly accepting the bribe from the complainant on Tuesday. The entire bribe amount was recovered from his possession and seized, the release said.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches were being conducted at two locations linked to the accused to investigate allegations of possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
A case has been registered at the Sambalpur Vigilance Division Police Station under Case No. 19/2026 and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation into the case is underway.
